baby's head shape...help!

Okay, so baby Gage will be 9 weeks tomorrow. I'm a little concerned about how his head is shaping. At first I thought he was sleeping too much on his right side and that I was holding him in my left arm all the time, so his head was getting lop-sided. I started holding him in my right arm only and trying (with little luck) to get him to sleep on his left side.

Today, I think his head is not only lop-sided, but has a flat spot on the back, right side. I have yet to figure out how to get him to turn his head and keep it that way while he's layng down. He moves everything I put there!

I'm so worried that he'll forever have a mis-shaped head. Outside of tying a brick to one side of his head, what can I do?

Anyone else have this issue? 

He has a pediatrician appt Wednesday, I hope she has some ideas. But nothing beats the experience of those who have been there.

Thanks in advance,
Kina

Misshaped heads are pretty common... I have a couple of friends whose babies' heads were flat on one side. Their pediatricians fitted them with little helmets to wear for a few weeks to kind of mold their heads. It worked fine!

Both of my twins developed a flat spot (very common with preemies). We wanted to get shaping helmets but their case wasn't severe enough to have insurance cover the cost and without insurance the cost was well over 1k per helmet. Our pediatrician said not to worry about it unless the flat spot was causing other skull deformities (pushing the forhead forward or jaw issues)

Once they started sitting up on their own (~4-5 months) their flat spots rounded out and were no longer noticible.

You can try adding a crib safe toy (mobile, mirror, something that plays music etc) on the opposite side of the crib so he has to turn to look at the toy.

both mine were tummy sleepers (I know, tisk tisk), but they had little round heads. It is just from sleeping on it the same place all the time. It does not sound serious unless you notice his face starting to elongate. Not to scare you but my sisters youngest had an elongated face, and it kept getting longer. Well he was 6 months old when they diagnosed him. I forget what they called it, but it was his plates in the back of his head were fused together. Well i guess that is not supposed to happen until a child turns 16 years old. So they did have to do a procedure and then he wore a helmet for a year. So keep a close eye on it and do not hesitate to speak up to the ped. They are only human and miss things too! Sorry, I really do not want to scare you, just inform you. My sister did not know anything like that could happen either.

 I would say not to freak out, try to get him to sleep on his other side but babies do what they want ;) Congrats on the weight loss BTW!! WAY TO GO!!
Jessica

As other's have posted, just keep repositioning Gage (even if you have to wait until after he goes to sleep to sneak in and 'flip him' to the other side), and I'm sure he'll be OK.  The important part - which you have already mastered - is to be aware of the issue and do your best to address it.  I think the only time to really worry is if - God forbid - you noticed his head taking on a triangular/cone shape.  That could mean some sort of genetic birth defect (I've no idea what it's called) where the pieces of the baby's head start to fuse together too soon and the brain is still growing, pushing the skull into a triangle/cone shape and makes the eyes bug out.  Not trying to scare you...just saying that from my non-medically educated knowledge...that's about as worse as it can get....and if it's caught early each, it's fixable. 

 

you can try putting his head at the foot of his crib... so he will look like other way... sometimes it worked.. sometimes not do much...

one of my twins had that, all the doctor said was to wait til he fell asleep and slowly turn him to the opposite side and roll up a blanket and place it behind his back... I just turned him enough so his head would  go to the other side, then every night switch from left side one night  to middle/flat on his back another night and to right side the night after that... before I knew it his head was back to perfect...

My son was getting a "bigger" side on his right side of his head.  His forhead was sticking out further on the right than the left.  The dr was worred enough at his 2 month appt that she said that it was severe enough that by his 4 month appt if it wasn't straightened out-we could be looking at a helmet.  What she had us do was start only feeding him with out right arm, so he was looking to the left continously.  We also asked us if we had a some ankle weights (we did!) to take one of them--and put it on his right side of his head when ever he was in his car seat, or laying down to prevent him from looking to the right. 

Do you know that by the time we took him in to the dr for him 4 month appt the dr. said his head was near perfect?  She said she had never seen a baby that severe turn around that much in that little time. 

I would definately mention it to the dr. when you go in.  She will let you know if there is reason for concern.

Debbie

Debbie,

I'm glad you had such good luck for your son. Sounds exactly like my boy.

He had his 2 month check up yesterday and she said to keep him turned to his left side, which we've been trying to do. I'm having a pretty hard time keeping him turned. Seems like no matter what I do, he sqwerms out of it and is back laying on the right side of  his head!!

We don't have any ankle weights, but I'd buy some for such good results. Did your son cry when you did this? I assume you just laid it on his head/ear area -- what would keep the weight from sliding off?

My dr said if it wasn't corrected by 5 months, he'd have to wear a helmet. UGH!! I feel terrible about this.

Thanks for the advice and hope...
Kina